The subject matter herein relates generally to a connector assembly having contact modules.
Some electrical systems utilize electrical connectors to interconnect two circuit boards, such as a motherboard and daughtercard. Signal loss and/or signal degradation is a problem in known electrical systems. For example, cross talk results from an electromagnetic coupling of the fields surrounding an active conductor or differential pair of conductors and an adjacent conductor or differential pair of conductors. The strength of the coupling generally depends on the separation between the conductors, thus, cross talk may be significant when the electrical connectors are placed in close proximity to each other. Moreover, as speed and performance demands increase, known electrical connectors are proving to be insufficient. Additionally, there is a desire to increase the density of electrical connectors to increase throughput of the electrical system, without an appreciable increase in size of the electrical connectors, and in some cases, with a decrease in size of the electrical connectors. Such increase in density and/or reduction in size causes further strains on performance.
In order to address performance, some electrical connectors have been developed that utilize shielded contact modules that are stacked into a housing. The shielded contact modules have conductive holders that provide shielding around the contacts of the electrical connectors. Due to the large number of contacts of the electrical connectors, loading the contact modules into the housing is difficult. For example, aligning the tips of the contacts with openings through the housing is difficult. Misalignment causes damage to the ends of the contacts. Misalignment may also cause damage to the contacts of the mating electrical connector or may cause the electrical connectors to fail when the contacts cannot be mated.
A need remains for an electrical connector having improved alignment features to help align components thereof during assembly.